The Major Issues Being Faced by Immigrants in Canada - Assignment Example

? SOCIAL POLICY BRIEF [Pick the Introduction Canada has become one of the most popular destinations for people around the world to move and settle and make a life there. This can be proven by the fact that every one in five persons in Canada is now an immigrant. The ease through which people acquire Canadian immigration and the educational policies for children makes it an attractive package for all who are planning to move from their country to Canada to begin a new life (Alexander, Burleton & Fong, 2012). However with the growing immigrant population, come different kinds of challenges for the policy makers of the country. One of the major issues being faced by immigrants in Canada is that in the labour market. The process the their integration in the labour market in Canada and in particular, in Toronto, has become a challenge not just for the new immigrants but also for the authorities in the city who are assigned with the duty of designing the social policies of the country. The problems while integrating into the Canadian labour market new immigrants face revolve around inadequate language skills and issues with credential recognition. These can be understood by studying the ever increasing gap between labour market outcomes of the new immigrants as compared to the native-born Canadians (Cornelson & Desjardins, 2011). It becomes extremely difficult for the new immigrants and their families to survive without good jobs, especially considering the economic difficulties the world is facing. The inflation is up and maintaining a family while living a normal life has become increasingly difficult. This is not just a big social problem for the new immigrants but also for the Canadian authorities who will be put under questioning when the overall unemployment rate of the country goes high (Ortega & Peri, 2009). The role of immigration and policy makers in Canada becomes all the more important when you consider the implications of the unemployment because of the inability of the immigrants for getting decent jobs. This issue is integral when you think about the long term prosperity and welfare of the Canadians as well as the new immigrants. The situation calls for immediate action and the development of social policies that could help overcome the integration issues new immigrants face when finding employment in the country they have newly moved in. Background Several years ago, the Canadian government discovered that one way to move towards economic prosperity and development was to hire skilled staff from all over the world and have them move to Canada as new immigrants. This was seen as a cheaper and a more productive alternative. The Canadian immigration eased the process of applying for immigration in Canada and this gradually became one of the major reasons why people started moving to the country. Canada went on to become one of the most popular choices for Asians to move and settle as immigrants. The basic idea, from the Canadian government prospective was to recruit and make way for skilled labour around the world so that they could implement their skills and education working with companies and Canada and contribute to the overall economic progress of the company (Cornelson & Desjardins, 2011). In hindsight, this is positively affected the country with economic progress seen evidently over the past few years. However, as the immigration process was extremely easy and it was granted without many problems, the immigrating population started increasing (Alexander, Burleton & Fong, 2012). Too many people started moving to Canada. The process of immigration does not just mean a family or an individual moving and living life from the word goes. He needs to earn live life, support himself and earn money. The individual looks for jobs and while doing so, the real problem arises. Immigrants come from entirely different backgrounds and cultures and that is why they face difficulties in getting jobs. Even if they do manage to land a decent job, they find it difficult to integrate with the new environment and culture in the organization. This has a direct impact on the productivity as well as the overall productivity of the organization (Ortega & Peri, 2009). Due to these problems, Canadian companies took a step background and drastically decreased the number of immigrants they recruited. This meant that the overall rate of unemployment in the country increased leading to a negative effect to the economy of the country. Unemployment has a trickledown effect with the residents of the country suffering. Looking at the bigger picture it also leads to most of the small crimes that take place. With such a situation, it was imperative for the Canadian government to think of social policies that could solve this issue. It has started to become a bigger problem now considering the number of stake holders in this (Cornelson & Desjardins, 2011). Organizations who have hired immigrants have remarked that even though the new immigrants are highly qualified and better in terms of the overall abilities as compared to native Canadians, their productivity level is low which affects the overall performance of the organization. They have also talked about the push from the government to ensure all people are assessed on merit and given jobs (Alexander, Burleton & Fong, 2012). But because new immigrants do not have the same performance levels as the natives, organizations have had to rethink their recruitment strategies and take a step backward. At government level, the immigration office is entirely responsible for letting in immigrants. It is their policies that generated this influx of immigrants into the country. The basic idea behind letting immigrants settle in Canada was to allow skilled labour to come to the country and contribute to the overall development of the economy. However, questions would be directed towards them now that new immigrants have failed to integrate into the labour market due to language, culture and environment barriers and this has led to an increase in the unemployment rate of the country which is never a positive (Ortega & Peri, 2009). The issue has serious economic implications. When a country’s unemployment rate goes high, it means that individuals do not have income and the overall spending power goes low. This means that the amount of money floating in the economy decreases. Spending power goes drastically low which means that the businesses of the country suffer as well. The sale of products goes low and companies run of capital to reinvest. All of this works in a cycle with one aspect having a trickledown effect on the other. On the one hand, the number of people being allowed as immigrants in the country is going up while on the other hand, the number of immigrants unemployed is also going high. With the economic pressures of this issue so high, calls are evident for the immigration department and the political authorities to step up and design social policies that could help them eradicate or decrease this problem. The idea of completely stopping immigration in the country would not be considered because this could stop the incoming talent and skill coming in the country. The trick is to be able to manage the immigrants and helping them integrate well in the system (Alexander, Burleton. & Fong, 2012). Another problem that arises sometimes because of this cultural difference is racism. Even though in most cases it is not true, but because the number of immigrants who are rejected for jobs have often seen complaining to their respective consulates about being racially discriminated. Racism is a big disgrace in the world and needs to be tackled smartly. The political authorities of the country need to be smart and make social policies and reforms that will help change the mind of the immigrants. Also, they need to think of social policies that can help them integrate well in the labour market (Cornelson & Desjardins, 2011). The Options This section of the report will mention the possible options that the political authorities of the country can implement in order to tackle this social issues. Following are the options and the pros of each of them and how they will help in solving the problem: Improvise the selection system The first option that the immigration department of the country have is to streamline and improve the selection process of immigrants. The criteria should be designed keeping in mind that they have enough marketable skills that can help them land a job in Canada. These skills will have to be designed considering the needs of the labour market. This is the job of the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Program who are primarily responsible for hiring of skilled labour from outside the country. The current system is set on a point-based evaluation system where the applying applicants are graded points for their skills and if they meet the required number of points, they are granted immigration into the country. First and foremost the FSW needs to assess the requirement of jobs in the country and then accept application (Ortega & Peri, 2009). In other words, they should assess the situation in the country to identify the area that needs skilled labour. For example, if they need labour in medicine, applications that have medical backgrounds and skills should be considered only and the rest should be rejected or put on hold. This would mean that only relevant labour is being granted immigration (Alexander, Burleton & Fong, 2012). The second thing they need to do is increase the criteria and point system requirements for applying immigrants. The requirement should include increased language skills and training. The applicants should also be presented with a social guide about life in Canada and be assessed on that during the application process. This will help to groom them and acquaint them with the Canadian dynamics. In order to be able to get immigration, they will have to prove their language skills and also their knowledge about the social dynamics of Canada. This way their integration process in the labour market of the country will become comparatively easier. Better coordination between labour market and FSW The labour market and the organizations in it give their feedback to FSW who then assess the skill requirements they need. Based on those requirements, immigrants are let into the country. What can be done is better coordination between the two parties involved. There are two aspects that need to be looked at. Firstly, the requirement could be for a short term need or a long term need. The FSW should be looking to bring in immigrants only for the long term needs and do not dwell on the short term ones. This is because short terms need require certain skills for only a period of time and then the employee is not required. This is why such a requirement should be fulfilled using the locals only (Cornelson & Desjardins, 2011). The immigrants should be recruited for long term plans where they will be employed on projects that will last for longer time periods. This way the employment span will increase and the immigrants will not have to worry about jobs. Federal immigrant labour program Introduce a program where the immigrant labour is trained and accustomed with the norms and trends of the corporate world of Canada. This program will act like a training period for the immigrants to ensure that they are ready once they plan to apply for jobs. The certification from this program will also be part of the criteria of most of the companies who plan to make any sort of recruitment. The program will educate immigrants about the dynamics of the Canadian market. It will also cover aspects of social issues that they might tackle and what steps they can take in order to overcome them (Alexander, Burleton. & Fong, 2012). This plan would be advantageous because it ensures that the immigrant will not face any social change when going into a new company. He will not be forced into thinking about issues like racial discrimination and will think based on merit. Language proficiency a larger determinant for immigration Language is the biggest problem immigrants face with when it comes to social integration into the labour market of Canada (Tiersky, Jones & Genugten, 2011). They struggle to cope with the style and accent and therefore let that affect their overall productivity at the company. The one in which authorities in Canada can solve this issue is by increasing the language skills requirement for immigrants. In order to become eligible for attaining immigration into Canada, applicants will have to take training for language skills and prove them by showing a certain level of skills to the immigration officer. By implementing this method, the problems that arise due to language deficiencies will be eradicated (Ortega & Peri, 2009). Social integration diploma The authorities could also use the option of introducing a diploma program for immigrants that will help them train and educate about life in Canada as a whole. This diploma can be attained through any of the educational centers supported by the Canadian government. It would work like a proper degree program at any random university and will aim to instilling the Canadian culture, norms and trends into the immigrants. This will help them in adjusting social in the labour market in Canada (Cornelson & Desjardins, 2011). Canada can take a lesion from cities like Vienna who made reforms to tackle issues of social integration of the immigrants into their labour market. The government introduced business incubation agencies that provided support and guidance to immigrants in their mother tongues. This program helps the immigrants to learn quicker and got them ready to enter the labour market in no time. The business program also helped them learn more about the corporate world of the city. After the introduction of this incubation program, the unemployment rate in Vienna went low and people remained less out of jobs (Alexander, Burleton & Fong, 2012). Conclusion The inability of immigrants to be able to integrate socially in the labour market of Canada is a serious problem with big implications. It leads to bigger social hazards such as racial discrimination while also affecting the economy of the country adversely. Having assessed the options discussed in the previous section of this report, the best solution for this social problem is to increase the skills and language criteria in the points system for applying for immigration to Canada. By doing so, the country’s authorities will be ensuring that the immigrants that they receive have the required skill level and also have language competencies that will help them easily integrate into social and working life in Canada (Ortega & Peri, 2009). This is the option I recommend as the immigration will not have to deal with any additional immigrants who would have trouble integrating in the system. Through this selection process, the Canadian authorities can ensure that the immigrants being given permission to move to the country have the minimum level of required language skills that will help them easy settle into social and corporate life of the country (Cornelson & Desjardins, 2011). Once done, the unemployment rate of the country will go down and put an end to the economic problems of Canada. References Alexander, C., Burleton, D. & Fong, F. (2012). Knocking Down Barriers Faced By New Immigrants To Canada, Fitting the Pieces Together, Special Report TD Economics Cornelson, K. & Desjardins, D. (2011). “Immigrant Labour Market Outcomes in Canada: The Benefits of Addressing Wage and Employment Gaps.” RBC Economics Current Analysis. Top of Form Tiersky, R., Jones, E., & Genugten, S. . (2011). Europe today: A twenty-first century introduction. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Bottom of Form Ortega, F. & Peri, G. (2009). “The Causes and Effects of International Migrations: Evidence from OECD countries 1980-2005.” NBER Working Paper Series, #14833. Read More